Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, today advised oil-producing countries in Africa to plan for a world beyond oil as a strategic option of achieving well structured economic growth.

Giving the advice while declaring open the Extra-Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers of the African Petroleum Producers’ Organization, APPO, in Abuja, the Vice President pointed out the affected countries cannot afford to act differently from the rest of the world.

He declared: “We cannot bet on the fact that even a few decades from now these natural resources will be as central to the global economy as they are today.”

The Vice President pointed out that “all serious economies around the world have realized this, and are making determined plans for a world beyond oil.”

He, therefore, charged African oil producers to “keep in mind that oil and gas are only guaranteed as today’s resources, and not necessarily tomorrow’s.”